Page 84 of Listen to Me

“You and Jackie Talley? You twodid it?” says Lorelei.

“It didn’t last. And it was a long time ago.”

“How long ago?”

“Way back. When she started working at the high school.”

“When did it end?” Lorelei rises to her feet, so angry now that she no longer cares that there’s a man with a gun in her house and she’s out in the open. “Tell me.”

“Why does it matter?”

“It matters!”

“Years ago. Fifteen, sixteen, I don’t remember. After all this time, I don’t know why the hell it’s coming up now.”

“Who else, Larry? I need to know who else you’ve slept with!”

“I don’t,” says Rick. “I know all I need to.” Once again he raises the gun.

Again I jump into the conversation. “What good does killing him do, Rick?” I ask, and I’m surprised by the sound of my own voice. I sound so calm, so steady. I’m surprised I’m standing here at all, facing a man who’s holding a loaded gun. It is an out-of-body experience, as if I’m floating above, watching myself—a braver, crazier version of Angela Rizzoli—confronting this angry man. “It won’t solve anything.”

“It’ll makemefeel better.”

“Will it, though? Really?”

Rick goes silent, thinking about it.

“Yes, they betrayed you and that sucks. But Rick, honey, you’ll move on from this. I know you will because the same thing happened to me. When I found out my Frank was banging that bimbo, you can bet I was pissed. I thought my life was over. If I’d had a gun, I might’ve thought about using it, just like you. Instead I picked myself up, dusted myself off, and I found Vince. Now look at me! I’m happier than I’ve ever been. You will be too.”

“No, I won’t.” Rick’s voice breaks and his shoulders slump. He seems to be melting before my eyes, his whole body drooping like candle wax toward the floor. “There’s no one else for me.”

“Of course there is.”

“How wouldyouknow, Angie? Of course you had no trouble moving on.You’vestill got your looks.”

Even in the midst of crisis, with a loaded gun poised to go off, I’m shallow enough to appreciate the compliment, but I can’t take the time to enjoy it. Larry’s life is at stake.

In the distance a siren wails. The police are on their way. I just have to keep Rick talking until they get here.

“What about Tricia?” I ask. “Do you want your daughter to suffer, having to live with what her father did?”

“Her father?” Instead of calming him down, my words seem to inflame him. He looks at me with wild eyes, his gun waving in an uncontrolled arc that sweeps past Lorelei and me and the wall and back to Larry. “IthoughtI was her father!”

I look at Larry, lying on the floor, then look back at Rick. Oh my, this is even more complicated than I realized. Suddenly it hits me, the reason why Tricia is so angry at her mother. Why she ran away and now refuses to speak to Jackie. Tricia knows that her mother cheated on Rick. Of course she knows.

The siren is closer.Just keep him talking a little longer.

“You love Tricia, don’t you?” I say to Rick.

“Of course I do.”

“You raised her. In all the ways that really matter, she’s your real daughter.”

“Nothis.” Rick looks bitterly at Larry. “She’llneverbe his.”

“Wait,” says Lorelei. “Larry’s her father?”

We all ignore her. I keep my attention where it belongs, on the man holding the gun. “Think about her future, Rick,” I say. “You need to be here for Tricia. You need to see her graduate. Get married. Have a baby…”

---